Thursday, August 13, 2009

After a hundred years, is it still possible to say something new in jazz?Gottlieb demonstrates powerfully that there is. Harmonically intricate compositions weave cords of melody out of voice, saxophone and trumpet.Blank verse, sometimes her own words and sometimes Middle-Eastern poetry, matches the unexpected, beautiful, and sometimes jarring music.

If polka is musical comfort food, Polkastra is your immigrant grandmother who knows the secret ingredient that makes it taste so good.Here, they play a global sampling of polka music, played on everything from accordion to bassoon to didgeridoo.

Blues is one of a handful of art forms where sounding raw and unpolished is a sign that you’r doing it right.The trio captures the grit of classic blues without any glitz.It’s music that belongs on an old 78rpm record (and believe it or not you can actually get this album as a series of 78’s).

I’m going to stop here this week, because you should all be listening to the treasure trove of concerts NPR managed to pull down from this year’s Newport Folk Festival. Legends such as Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, and Del McCoury and rising stars such as Gillian Welch, Iron & Wine, Fleet Foxes – 30 concerts in all.Find it all here.